Mother's Day Blues
by islashlove
Summary: This is my take on how the survivors deal with Mother's Day looming. It's going to be a heartbreaking Mother's Day.


**Disclaimer:**** I do not own anything that is from Walking Dead. **

**Warning:**** None.**

**Beta:**** Yes, I would like to say thank you to my Beta jerseybelle**

**Author's Notes:**** It's going to be a heartbreaking Mother's Day.**

**Story Notes:**** This is my take on how the survivors deal with Mother's Day looming.**

**Mother's Day Blues:**** By islashlove**

They had been at the prison for a while now and as they claimed more and more of the prison, Carol had more and more areas to clean.

So it wasn't surprising that one day, while Carol was cleaning, she came across a calendar. Smiling to herself, she slowly looked through the reminder of the old times.

Since this mess had started they had lost track of time, the days and months. All that they could truly be sure of was that they had been together for nearly a year. As she fingered the pages, Carol couldn't help but wonder what the day and date actually was.

Suddenly, she thought about Dale and how he would always wind his watch so that he could hold onto the past and she wondered if Hershel was the same. Did he hold onto the past like that? Taking the calendar, Carol made her way back to the main part of the prison in hopes of finding Hershel, which she did.

Hershel was sitting in his cell reading his Bible. Carol had noticed that he had done that a lot lately and although she would like to join him, all that had happen lately held her back. Carol's faith has been shaken just that little too much.

Smiling as sweetly as she could, Carol showed Hershel the calendar and asked if he had any idea what the date was. Hershel took the calendar from Carol and told her to leave it with him and he would let her know at dinner. Carol thanked him and headed back to finish the cleaning she had been doing.

Hershel opened his Bible to the back page. It was the only thing, except for Beth and Maggie, that he had managed to keep all this time. In the back of the Bible he had marked off every day since they had left the farm. So he spent the rest of the day slowly marking off the days as they changed into months until he finally knew what the day was.

At first he was happy to finally know, but at the realisation of what the next day was, a tear ran down his cheek and a heavy weight settled on his heart. Tomorrow will be Mother's Day.

Hershel leaned back in the chair he was sitting in, and for the first time in years he thought about his mother. He remembered his mother with fondness; she had been a very kind and caring woman, who had been taken by the Lord way too early, just like his wife.

Hershel, for once, was glad that they were both dead and did not have to live in this new world. He just regretted that it was the infection that had taken his wife and mother of his children, and that he had put them through hell by holding on to her instead of putting her and them out of their misery.

While he sat there with his eyes closed watching the images of his mother's and wife's faces play in his mind, the smell of food reached him. Letting out a heavy sigh, Hershel stood up and headed to the area where they eat. He was dreading the moment when he woul see Carol and she asks him if he knows what today is.

They had nearly finished eating and Carol hadn't asked Hershel about the calendar or what he had found out. Letting out a sigh, Hershel prayed that maybe, just maybe, Carol had forgotten and she wouldn't ask, but he wasn't that lucky.

It was as everyone was cleaning up that Carol had asked and although Hershel was tempted to lie, his moral standing wouldn't let him and Hershel let Carol and everyone else know what the date was. He stood there as the information sank in. He watched as their faces changed to relief at the knowledge of knowing what the date was and then the sadness that appeared as they realised what tomorrow would be.

It nearly killed him as he saw the hurt and pain each and every one of them was showing. He watched as Rick turned a sad face towards Carl who looked like he had been hit in the stomach with a sledge hammer. The only one that seems unaffected was Daryl, who looked like he had no idea what was going on.

Hershel started to apologise, but Carol wouldn't have anything to do with it. Carol just thanked him for being honest with them and then she gave him a sad smile, picked up the plates and headed towards the kitchen to do the washing up.

It was only after she had finished everything and was lying in her cell, did Carol allow the information to truly sink in. Tomorrow would be the first time since Sophia had been born that her beautiful precious daughter wouldn't be with her.

Carol allowed the tears to fall, but she wasn't just crying for herself and Sophia. She was also crying for Carl and Judith and the loss of Lori. She was crying for all of the living that were left and for the ones they had lost because the world had changed.

It was as if every time they start to settle down, start to have some form of a normal life, they get kicked in the stomach and it just wasn't fair, not fair at all.

Carol saw the shadow pass her door, but she was too lost in her own sad world of memories of Sophia to care that someone was just outside and soon enough, the shadow walked away. It was times like these that Carol wished that she was like Daryl. He didn't care about Mother's Day; hell, he didn't seem to have a care at all.

Beth had stood at Carol's doorway as long as she could, waiting for Carol to ask her to come in, but Carol never did. Instead, Beth listened as the woman who she had started to look at like a second mother, crying.

Beth didn't want to disturbed Carol; she just wanted someone to talk to, but she also understood that Carol wanted to be alone with her memories of her daughter. Moving back through the cell block, Beth could hear or see that everyone was upset with the news her dad had given them, but she wasn't a hundred precent why. She had though everyone was over the death of their lost ones, although she could still remember the day her mother had gotten sick.

Her father had done the best he could for her mother, but the fever was to strong and it took her away. Three days later, her mother was back, but it wasn't her mother at all, it was just a shell that looked like her. Even though her father had told her not to go the barn, she did. She had to visit her mother and the others and then Maggie was back.

Beth knew that Maggie tried to be like a mother to her, but she just couldn't be; their mother was in the barn and then Rick's group turned up and all changed. Beth wanted to kill Shane after she watched him gun down her mother, that was why she had tried to leave the living, she wanted to be with her mother and that was the only way.

But now…now she had so much to live for. She had her dad who needed her since he had lost his leg. She had Judith who needed her and she had Carol. Beth needed Carol to be a mother to her, and at the same time, Carol needed Beth to give her a daughter to fuss over.

Beth gave Maggie and Glenn a quick glance as she passed their cell. Maggie was just about covered by Glenn as she cried into his chest. Whereas Glenn just looked off into space with sad eyes, as his hand gently rubbed Maggie's back. Looking away, Beth decided to go and see how her dad was holding up.

Glenn held Maggie as tight as he could. He knew that she missed her mum and now that they know that tomorrow is Mother's Day, it was hitting her even harder. Glenn's mind started to wander to his own family and his mother in particular.

He didn't know if they were still alive or not or even if the infection had reached his home land. All he knew was that he had fought with both his parents before he left for America and that he hadn't spoken to them since and now he never will.

Maggie was hurting inside. The last time she had seen her mother, Shane was putting a bullet through her head. Before that, it was when she had thrown the chickens with broken legs down into the barn to feed her and all the others. Every so often, she would sit up there and watch as her mother would rip a chicken to pieces and wonder if this really was her mother.

She had tried to get back in time. She had heard the stress in her father's voice when he called her to say that her mother was sick. But the outbreak had more or less started and movement into and out of the city had been restricted, but she had managed to get out. By the time she had gotten home it was too late and the fever had taken her.

Maggie had always blamed herself for not getting there in time and now, with everything they now knew, there wasn't anything she could have done. She just wished that she could have gotten back to say goodbye.

Looking up, Maggie saw a shadow pass the door of the cell and guested that it was Carl or Rick passing by. Even in her grief, Maggie knew tomorrow would be a lot worst for Carl than any of them. After all, he didn't just lose his mother to this hell; he had to pull the trigger to save her and the rest of them, from what she would become.

Carl sat on the edge of his bed looking down at the floor. He was confused about his feelings right now and he had no one to talk to. His mother was gone. Taken from him in a world where he needed her, the most.

He was feeling angry. He was angry at her for having the affair with Shane. He was angry with her for falling pregnant and wanting to keep the child and angry with her for leaving him. But most of all he was angry with himself for hating her.

It wasn't her fault the world had died. It wasn't her fault that they had ended up in that room where he had to end her life for all of their sakes and it wasn't her fault that he hated her, that was all down to him.

Carl knew that his mum would be grateful that he was brave enough to pull the trigger. He knows that she would be grateful that he has stepped in as a big brother and would do anything to protect his little sister. No, tomorrow is going to be a sad day, but it will also be a day that they could use, a day they could remember the ones they have lost. He now needed to find his dad and suggested it to him.

Carl slowed down a little as he passed Daryl who was sitting on his bed cleaning his cross bow, but Carl had learnt that this was the way Daryl hides the fact that he was thinking. Slipping past, he hurried down the stairs and out the door to find his dad who was on watch.

Daryl watched as Carl slipped past him. He could see that the boy was on some kind of mission, so he didn't raise his head and look at him. Instead, he just let Carl slip past undisturbed. He just wished that his thoughts were just as undisturbed.

Ever since Hershel had said what today was, Daryl had been haunted by the images of his mother. God damn it, why did Carol have to find that calendar and why did she have to ask Hershel if he could work out what to day was? Why didn't she just leave just as well alone?

He knew everyone thought this news meant nothing to him, but it did. Tomorrow wasn't just Mother's Day to him. No, it isn't. It was the day that he had walked in and watched as his dad killed him mother. The Mother's Day present he had made and couldn't wait to show her fell to the floor, forgotten in the aftermath of that terrible sight.

From that day on, he no longer had a mother, or a brother, come to think about it. It was from that day on that Merle had changed. One minute he would be his brother, his mother, a father and a protector, then the next thing he was like a stranger to him and Daryl would be cowering behind the couch to get away from him.

But no matter what his life was like, no matter what hell he was living through, Daryl would still make sure that on Mother's Day he visited his mother's grave and placed a single red rose on it.

As he sat there the sound of Judith's crying echoed through the prison as if it were echoing each and everyone's own sadness. Daryl couldn't but wonder if they would lose Rick to his delusion this night.

Outside, Rick was staring out into the darkness. It had been days since he had seen Lori's ghost, but after what had happened at dinner tonight, Rick was sure that he would see her again. He couldn't help but feel sorry for Carl and what he had to go through that night when he had to…no he wouldn't think about it. And poor Judith will never know her mother. Judith never will see her mother's smile or know her tenderness, Judith…

Rick's thoughts are broken as Carl comes running out. Rick was surprised to see how excited he seemed to be. Has having to kill his mother affected him so much that he can't feel the sorrow, the hurt, everyone else was feeling?

But once he heard what Carl had to say about tomorrow being a remembrance day for the fallen and for the lost, he was glad that it seemed that Carl wasn't as cold as he thought, but he still wished that his mother was still here.

Inside, Judith lay in her cot playing with her hands. She could sense the tension in the air of the prison and every so often let out a scornful cry and then returned to watch the two people that were watching over her.

Their faces were not new to her, she had seen them before, but they had just been in passing and it was more the woman then the man that she had seen.

Their faces were soft and kind and the woman had a lovely smile. When they reached down to touch her, their fingers were soft, yet cold and it tickled her skin, so Judith let out a little giggle.

Just then the faces faded and the woman that was always picking her up, appeared. Judith looked around for the other two and now they are above her. Smiling, she now knew who they are. The man is her father and the woman, her mother. As they moved away, one thought entered Judith's mind.

'Happy Mother's Day'

The next day, the survivors all gathered around Lori's grave and each one remembered their lost ones. Judith lay in Rick's arms looking at her parents and he followed her gaze. Seeing Shane and Lori standing there, Rick wished Lori a Happy Mother's Day.

**The End**

**Thank you for reading and for reviewing my story.**


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